Enacting Social Justice: Transforming Vocal Arts Education

This presentation includes three connected parts; each part can stand alone in a cohesive unit, but the parts together present a more comprehensive picture of how vocal arts education can be enhanced through social justice‐infused community engagement.

Part 1: Transforming Lives in the Social Justice Recital
In this portion of the presentation we will present findings from “Raise Your Voice: Violence Against Women through the Ages ‐ A Social Justice Recital.” Participants included a DMA voice student (planner) and a campus women’s center (community partner) as well as performers and audience members who provided feedback regarding their experiences with this recital. Our research analyzes the recital through these multiple perspectives.

Part 2: Enacting the Social Justice Recital
In this portion of the presentation we will use live performance (vocal and readings) and media to demonstrate the various components of the social justice recital and how these differ from a more traditional recital format.

Part 3: Embedding Social Justice Issues in the Vocal Performance Curriculum
In this segment we highlight projects led by faculty that use a two‐way interactive model of engagement to meet community needs and support student learning. Our cases include a vocal pedagogy class working in a high need school, vocal literature classes developing a project for seniors in an assisted living facility, a graduate student developing a choir at the local women’s prison, and “The R‐Word Campaign Concert” that featured an inclusive group of high school choral‐singers and students with exceptionalities in performance of a commissioned work.